Boxer’s Delight

As with all trends that we track at Stylesight, we are always delighted to to see physical proof of these emerging movements confirmed. Boxing, as an example, has recently been inspiring menswear on the runway, as well as on the street…so when we read this article in the NY Times last week, about “secret” bouts in Manhattan, we pretty much fell out of the chair.

This look — which is comprised of layered shorts, cotton fleece knits, and crewneck sweatshirts — originally started to surface almost 2 years ago in the European and Asian Markets. Remember the Puma by McQueen Collection that we featured on Active Ingredients? We also have called it out in the form of S2M’s and Trend Alerts. So it is clear that this trend has legs.

It turns out, that there is a whole underground boxing-meets-fashion scene, bubbling in the streets of NYC. According to the article in the NYT, these Friday Night Throwdowns are announced on the day of, and always play out in nondescript locations in lower Manhattan. The alerts are as simple as ““There will be blood tonight. 88 East Broadway”. These are not “Fight Clubs” though, as the bouts are closely monitored by refs and rely heavily on standard ring rules and guidelines. These matches are attracting tons of celebs and photographers (including iO Tillet and Steven Klein), and apparently, some of the boxers also moonlight as models (only in NYC).

On the runways, we are also still seeing a nod to classic sportswear, as evidenced in recent F/W 11 Collections in Milan and Paris including Dirk Bikkembergs, Viktor & Rolf and Givenchy

We also had the opportunity to attend a really cool event at Grand Central Terminal to celebrate the new boxing show on FX Lights Out, which totally has us on hooked on this bad-boy aesthetic. The Fighter, starring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg, has gained some serious attention with 7 Oscar nominations. Anyway you look at it, Boxing is IN.